1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a micro coaxial cable connector, and particularly to a micro coaxial cable connector with a shield assembled thereon.
2. Description of Related Art
Metal shielding is commonly used in electrical connectors, especially in high speed application, to enclose an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts received in the housing thereby protecting signals transmitted through the connector from an external electromagnetic interference. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,305,978, 6,305,979, 6,273,753 and 6,123,582 disclose conventional coaxial cable connectors. Referring to FIG. 9 (FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,978), a shield 7 comprises an upper flap 71, a lower flap 72 and a pair of side flaps 73 downwardly extending from opposite sides of the upper flap 71. The shield 7 encloses an insulative housing 8 which has a plurality of contacts received therein. The insulative housing 8 has a pair of blocks 81 formed on opposite ends thereof. Each side flap 73 defines a notch 731 corresponding to the block 81 of the housing 8. The pair of notches 731 engageably receive the corresponding blocks 81 of the housing 8 therein to prevent an upward disengagement of the upper flap 71 from the housing 8. This prior art micro coaxial cable connector does not have convenient grasping handles for manually plugging and unplugging the connector from a mating connector. A way to solve this problem is to form a pair of protruding sections on opposite sides of the housing 8. However, this change in the housing will necessitate a redesign of the shield. Thus, a new housing design and shielding structure for the coaxial cable connector is needed.
An object of the present invention is to provide a micro coaxial cable connector which is convenient to plug and unplug in a mating connector.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro coaxial cable connector which has a shield firmly assembled on a redesigned dielectric housing.
To achieve the above-mentioned objects, a micro coaxial cable connector of the present invention comprises a dielectric housing, a metal shield enclosing the housing, a grounding plate and a terminal block received in the housing. The dielectric housing has a transverse portion and a pair of lateral portions extending rearwardly from a pair of lateral sides of the transverse portion. A pair of side sections at out side edges of the lateral portions provide convenient grasping handles. The transverse portion defines a plurality of passageways therethrough. Each lateral portion defines a split. The grounding plate has at least one grounding beam. The terminal block has a plurality of conductive terminals received in the passageways of the housing. The metal shield comprises an upper flap, a lower flap and a pair of side flaps upwardly extending from opposite side edges of the lower flap. The lower flap forms at least one grounding tab electrically contacting the at least one grounding beam of the grounding plate. The pair of side flaps extend into the splits of the housing to ensure the grounding tab retains contact with the grounding beam.